Short Interest in Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLIC) Increases By 5.1%

Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:KLIC) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 3,510,000 shares, a growth of 5.1% from the September 15th total of 3,340,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 538,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.5 days. Currently, 6.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Craig Hallum cut their price target on shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Kulicke and Soffa Industries from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Kulicke and Soffa Industries has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.33.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries Trading Down 5.1 %

KLIC opened at $44.22 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.45 billion, a PE ratio of -37.16 and a beta of 1.38. Kulicke and Soffa Industries has a 1-year low of $38.20 and a 1-year high of $56.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $42.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $45.59.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $181.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $179.28 million. Kulicke and Soffa Industries had a negative net margin of 7.94% and a positive return on equity of 0.61%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Kulicke and Soffa Industries will post -0.45 EPS for the current year.

Kulicke and Soffa Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 19th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 19th. Kulicke and Soffa Industries’s dividend payout ratio is -67.23%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kulicke and Soffa Industries

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KLIC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 4.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,841,236 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $142,943,000 after purchasing an additional 128,026 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 37.2% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,075,790 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $52,918,000 after purchasing an additional 291,787 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 12.2% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 671,675 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $33,040,000 after purchasing an additional 73,243 shares in the last quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Kulicke and Soffa Industries by 8.1% in the first quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 648,357 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $32,619,000 after purchasing an additional 48,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP bought a new stake in Kulicke and Soffa Industries in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,036,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.22% of the company’s stock.

About Kulicke and Soffa Industries

Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells capital equipment and tools used to assemble semiconductor devices. It operates through four segments: Ball Bonding Equipment, Wedge Bonding Equipment, Advanced Solutions, and Aftermarket Products and Services (APS). The company offers ball bonding equipment, wafer level bonding equipment, wedge bonding equipment; and advanced display, die-attach, and thermocompression systems and solutions, as well as tools, spares and services for equipment.